But with Wayne Rooney ruled out for at least a month - potentially two - with a gash in his thigh, and United facing a packed fixture list when the Champions League begins, the 24-year-old expects to be involved more.

With Van Persie, United now have five senior strikers - including Rooney, Danny Welbeck and Dimitar Berbatov - but Hernandez insists he relishes the challenge of earning a place.

He said: "The great thing about this club is you know you will get opportunities because we play so many games in different tournaments.

"There is competition for places, but you always have that. I had that in youth teams when I was growing up and we have it here now because you need a big squad of players.

"There are only 11 places each week and you need to do your best to get one of those places, but it's great to have that competition because it means every player will have to raise the level of their game.

"The gaffer has the decisions to make, but for me, I just focus on doing my best every day in training and in every game so I can help my team-mates get closer to achieving our targets of winning the league and all the competitions we play in."

Hernandez, who joined from Guadalajara in 2010, scored 20 goals in his debut campaign for United and a further 12 last year but has only started 33 of the 78 Premier League matches since his arrival.